Circus Blog Merchandise

Hello Ivan! Here is a picture of Ken and Vesta Austin, “The Grimaldis”. Also a picture of two musical poodles which I suspect belonged to them. Can you or any of your readers possibly confirm that? I only remember (When I was a child) that Vesta had a singing poodle like the one pictured whose name was also Twinklestar.

Best, Pete Kolozsy …….Thank you so much for these great photos…….. IVAN

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2 Responses to ““The Grimaldis” & “Twinklestar””

We worked with Ken and Vesta Grimaldi and both Twinkle Star and Super Star on the Canadian part of Clyde Bros Circus tour, probably in the mid 1970’s. Twinkle Star had been a part of the act for awhile then, but Super Star was a very recent addition at that time.

Ivan,
As Iam sure you know the first man to put on make up was Joseph Grimaldi and to carry out the tradition, all circus clowns are refered to as JOEY. Not only was Joseph Grimaldi (also pronounced Grime all day) the Godfather of all clowns that have touched the grease, but the satirical character as Emmett Kelly so beautifully portraid but also the Yen to the white faces Yang. As I portraid the Chucko character in Circus’s, TV and Live shows as a Hipper, skilled, performer. I feel closely related to the clowns of yesteryear from Europe. With the evolution of Cirque de Sole and the European High wire shows ie. The Wynn troups, Lemoens, and Vasak.We knew along time ago animals would be taken off the road, out of the Zoos and put in Free Range with the People in the Cages or Cars. Roy Kabat saw that in England when we did Dr. Doolittle, with Rex Harrison and Anthony Newman.
The Born Free story made it inevitable, heart warming, and predictive of our current situation. Thank you Cheryl Shawver, Eddie Steeples and the rest of the wonderful people that have made this possible as well as the work Wally has done with Dolphins pre 1965 which continues to save lives today and teaches us that animals communicate better then People,and are sometimes more Civil, as pointed out in the latest Ape movie.
By the way, My mom, Mildred Runyon submitted that script in the 60s to Twentieth Century Fox as the sequel to Charlton Hestons original Planet of the Apes, and I can prove it.
In conclusion, to Qoute Shakespear, Does Life dictate Art or Visa Versa…God loves all his animals even the 2 legged ones. Can’t we all get along.(RK)
Sincerly,
Randy “CHUCKO” Runyon